New York Markets After Hours

Pershing Square defers Target real estate talks until 2009

MichelleDonley

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. said Monday that it will defer talks with Target Corp.
TGT, +0.07%
on a potential real estate deal until after the new year. Earlier this fall, Pershing Square, a hedge-fund firm run by activist investor Bill Ackman, had proposed that Target spin off the land it owns into a real estate investment trust in a bid to boost the company's value. But Target rejected that idea late Friday, saying that the potential value created through the proposed deals is too speculative and insufficient. "We respectfully disagree with the company's and its advisors' present conclusion. We believe that the revised transaction would create tremendous value and improve the company's access to capital, with minimal risk," Ackman said in a prepared statement. "We intend to pursue the matter in the new year, after the holiday season." Shares of Target were up 10% to $30.98 in Monday afternoon trading.

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